Visionary Beauty

Sunday, 13 December 2015

I want to say a thank you to all of you who read and comment on my
blog, and for all the emails I've received - it's great to meet such
lovely fellow makeup addicts. I want to let you know that I have
decided to break from blogging, though I will not delete the blog.
My reasoning is not a decline in my love for makeup, but rather that
I have grown disillusioned with what makeup blogs have become. I
started blogging back in 2009, and it was
a small, friendly community who loved cosmetics and wanted to give
an honest viewpoint as an alternative to magazines that were full of
paid-for content and altered photos.

I feel that cosmetic blogs have really changed since I first started
out; when I look around now, there are adverts all over the place,
bright-as-you-like images (so altered they bear no true colour
resemblance to the actual product), paid for reviews, and post after
post of free product reviews, that I feel detract from a blogger's
identity, when they are no longer selecting products themselves.
With many blogs now, I only really look at the product photos, as
the review content is worthless - it's all about pageviews and a
race for free products.

I don't care about any of this - I love cosmetics and simply wanted
to share my views with like minded people, suggesting what to avoid
and what was worth buying. Though I have a small blog, you do get
inundated with offers of free stuff, and though I rarely accept what
I'm offered, I do understand the temptation. There are still blogs
out there on the same wavelength as mine, but I feel like we
are on the decline, and distinctly in the minority - it seems that
the paid-for, disingenuous content we were fighting against
initially, is exactly what the majority of blogs have now become,
and that's absolutely not what I am about.
So thank you again to
those who have read my thoughts over the years, and take care.
This is not necessarily the end, but it's
definitely a hiatus.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Without doubt the Sunday Riley line boosts a lot of cult products, it
taken me a while to try the brand as I'm always a little apprehensive of
cult status as I'm often left underwhelm.
I'll start with the Juno
Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil. I choose this as the essential oils
prevalent in the majority of face oils cause various unpleasantness on
my skin, whereas Juno omits them.
The oil has a good texture, neither
being too runny or too thick. You only need a few drops and it absorbs
quite well, with a lightweight feel, though I would not describe it as a
dry oil and as such find this best used at night.
I'm no ingredient expert, so here's what the box says, but it looks like it contains all
the good stuff like antioxidants and such like without any unnecessary
fillers.
This has become an essential for me and I have re-bought it (it lasted me 3 months using it every night). My dry skin feels a lot smoother and my overall complexion in terms of redness and acne looks calmer.

The older I get the more I am using primers, mostly for pore blurring.
The Effortless Breathable Tinted Primer is oil free and you can definitely
tell it is silicone based, as it has a slight greasy feel, though it
does not feel heavy.
Its meant to provide "Sheer, porcelain-smooth
coverage, it can be worn alone for a hint of color and even-toned
radiance or layered under foundation to extend the wear." I'm at a bit
of a loss as to what this does, my complexion does not look improved, I do
not find it extends the wear of my makeup nor does it do anything to
blur my pores. What it does do is provide a smooth surface so foundation
does sit better on the skin. Its very sheer, which is good as the
lightest shade "Light" is too dark for me.
I like that this comes
in a pump container and my foundation goes on a bit smoother but umm
that's about it.
Ingredients:

Sunday, 29 November 2015

As pretty as the look is for the Tibet inspired Himalayan Collection, I
wasn't really feeling the products when I checked them out instore; the
lipsticks were a bit too bold for my liking and the eyeshadow duo just
too shimmery.
Not one to be deterred I picked up the Cheek Gelée
Hydrating Gel-Cream Blush.
The shade is called Happy and its a soft
illuminating petal pink, its quite translucent so skin does show through.

Swatched below, then blended in,
The formula is a joy, it has a somewhat creamy/gel feel to it, its not
heavy and it spreads over the skin and blends in impeccably. It feel
moisturising and there is no sticky or greasy feel. Chantecaille state
it has the lasting power of a stain and I agree with this.

Ingredients
There is everything to love here but I think the success of this is
going to depend on the state of you skin and this is why this does not
reach its full potential on me.
My skin has a lot of discolouration/acne scarring, and whilst this looks quite nice on me when I tried it
on my mother (who has much clearer skin) it performed much better. My skin
takes away some of the fresh pink hue and luminosity of this product,
whereas on my mother the beautiful pigment and radiant glow are evident.
I think this is a great product, but you'll not get the best out of this
if you have bad skin like me.

Sunday, 22 November 2015

I often get caught up with posting about seasonal/new product
releases but there are some things I have been really enjoying
lately that I wanted to share with you.
Heading towards the winter season, my skin can often look
dull, which is where highlighters come into their own. Though
the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured came out earlier
this year, we only recently got the lightest shade, Pearl,
here in the UK.
I really like the formula, its lightweight and
spreads and blends extremely well, under or on top of makeup.
Its not so emollient that there is any greasy feel and it
sets nicely with no tackiness. Pearl is a high sheen white, although it swatches quite intense it does not look stark on the skin. The wear time is fantastic,
around 10 hours.

Shown below Pearl and Moonlight
Ingredients:

I am not fan of lip plumping products as I tend to find them
irritating, so when I was sent some of the Rouge Bunny Rouge
Swell Bliss XXX Lip Plumps I did not have high hopes, but
these have been quite a surprise.
Heather Royal
Jelly (Pinky Beige with micro-shimmer)
Acacia Royal Jelly (Milky
Baby Pink)

Clover Royal Jelly (Pinky
Rose with silver micro-shimmer)

I have the older packaging
but the newer incarnation looks a bit more sleek. The glosses
are super shiny and whilst there is a minty taste and a bit of
tingling at first, these are not irritating in the least. The
result is a really high gloss/shine finish which makes the
area look more plumped. Though I do find these tacky in feel,
this probably does provide the very long wear time.

L-R: Heather Royal
Jelly, Acacia Royal Jelly, Clover Royal Jelly.

If you fancy anything from RBR, they have provided a 20%
discount for anything in the range to all my readers. The code
can be used via http://en.rougebunnyrouge.com/
and is applicable for all the countries they ship to and there
is no minimum spend. The code to enter in the discount box is
RBR-VISIONARYBEAUTY20

Ingredients:

Chantecaille Le Chrome Luxe Eye Duo in
Monte Carlowas part of the Pre-Fall
collection, but seems to still be readily available. I really
like the formula of the Le Chrome Luxe Eye Duos, its as smooth
as you like, lightweight and applies and blends like a dream,
furthermore pigment is high and the wear is long.
Monte Carlo
pairs a shimmery apricot and bronze, a classic combination,
perhaps a bit too warm for me complexion but it was just too
lush for me to pass up.
Ingredients:

So there we have it, 3 great products for eyes, lips and
cheeks, sorted.

I bought the Chantecaille and Becca from Space NK, the RBR Lip
Plumps were sent to me for free.

Sunday, 15 November 2015

So far not many holiday collections have caught my attention but I
always have a soft spot for Chanel holiday offerings.
I decided
that I needed to get the Signe Particulier Eyeshadow Quad after
seeing Lena's post here and I have to say I'm really pleased with it. Whilst the shadows
aren't quite as soft/buttery as the 2012 Harmonie du Soir palette
they do have good pigment, apply evenly and blend well.
The quad
contains a sheer shimmery pale lilac pink, satin grey/taupe, metallic yellow gold and satin burgundy. I love the shot of the warm gold against the
smoky purple hues.
Shown below, I've used the taupe and burgundy really lightly as they go on quite intense on my skin.
Ingredients:

Coups de Minuit (12) Joues Contraste Lumiere is a sheer beige
with a hint of peach, it has a sheen finish.
The
colour is a touch deep on my pale skin to use as standalone
highlighter, yet does not impart enough colour to use as a
blusher so instead I use this over blushers and it really does
add a pretty effect.
It has a smooth texture and blends
wonderfully on the skin without highlighting pores. The only
downside for me is the wear as I get fading after
5 hours.
Swatched below with some more typical highlighter colours L-R: Burberry Nude Radiance Highlighting Powder, Coups de Minuit and Dior Starlight.
Ingredients:

My wild card was the Rouge
Allure in #237 Vaporeuse. Often lighter shades of the Rouge
Allures can go on uneven/patchy and make lines look more
noticeable, but I took a chance on this as it felt a lot
more creamy when I swatched it.
I do find this more
forgiving than a lot of lighter RA, though do recommend
smoothing the lips prior to application. The colour is a
cool pink with a hint of mauve, its just verging on the too
pale, too ice bitten look but manages to work to give a
delicate cool pink tint to the lips.
Ingredients:
I'm really happy with everything I bought, though as a complete
look I think Vaporeuse does not work with the colours of the
Signe Particulier Quad.
I have started to see less than
favourable reviews for Signe Particulier on other blogs, and
though I did not encounter any problems with
application/pigment myself this might be one worth testing
in store before buying to check you are happy with the
pigment and feel.

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Zoeva is a brand that I've heard a lot of good things about, the recently
released En Taupe palette immediately caught
my eye with its natural looking array of cooler toned shades.
The
palette comes housed in study cardboard, though I would be inclined to
keep its protective outer cardboard sleeve should you wish to travel
with it. Inside we have 10 shadows in a
good array of finishes and different depths.
The top row contains a
matte cream,
iridescent peach, matte mauve grey, matte tan and matte mauve grey with
golden glitter. The second row contains a shimmery silver, sheer grey
with pink duochrome, shimmery brown, shimmery taupe and a matte dusty mauve
eggplant.
Pigment on the whole is good, there is quite a bit of powder
kickup but the shadows feel quite smooth and blend ok, though the mattes
are a bit dryer. I would say that these are the types of shadows that
if you blend too much you lose the colour definition, which can make
things look a bit muddy.

Shown below is the palette lid details and ingredients

I'm pleased with the amount of possible colour combinations and overall
application and wear of this given its low price point (£15.50) and do
think the quality is equivalent to more mid end brands but can't say
that I'm blown away.
I also bought a brush from them, the highly rated
crease #221, but I'm not that jazzed about it, overall whilst I can see
the merits of this palette its not made me inclined to try anymore from
the brand.